


Act II: Defyers

by Lopadopalis



Series: Yggdrasil [5]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: "The Voidspace", Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bad Weather, Elemental Gods, Elemental Magic, Fighting, Isolation, It's the two guys from XX-Beta-12, Merging Consciousness, Multi, Possession, The Homestuck Epilogues: Meat, glitching, whatever that means
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:48:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 9,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26358256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lopadopalis/pseuds/Lopadopalis
Summary: (While not a direct sequel to Act I: Ascendance, it still has important information that contributes to my larger narrative.)An outsider from beyond canon arrives and introduces several unknown variables onto the planet Deltritus, thus throwing canon off balance and causing chaos.A conclusion of sorts to the arc involving my previous stories XX-Beta-12 and the Solomon Project.
Relationships: Dave Strider/Karkat Vantas, John Egbert/Terezi Pyrope, Original Character(s)/Original Character(s), Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam
Series: Yggdrasil [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805818
Comments: 14
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Act II, baby! Here we go.

~~The Inevitable End of All But Me~~

~~XX-Beta-12~~

~~The Solomon Project~~

~~Act I: Ascendance~~

Act II: Defyers

Act III: Protectors

Act IV: Controllers

Intermission: Zero Day

Act V Act I: Shade

Act V Act II: Shatter

> Fiction to Reality

Golf-213

Dimensional Drabbles

Endstück

[(Protectors) Selected]

A dark haired man wearing a grey sweater over an orange shirt steps through reality and arrives on Deltritus. He looks skyward as a ship streaks through the atmosphere and vanishes over a hill. There’s a resounding crash, and all goes silent. He steps over the hill, his footprints leaving markings in the ground. He ponders the precarious geology of the planet as he goes. However, it’s of little consequence to him, so he keeps moving. The ship _Theseus_ has landed, and its three occupants head for a nearby cave. The man stays hidden, simply watching them. He stays there for about half an hour, taking notes of how they interact, then fiddles with a device and goes six months into the future.

He sighs. He’s got to engage his target’s interest _somehow_. He’s got to make a fuss. So, he steps six months forwards again, then reaches across to XX-Beta-12 and grabs twelve entities, dropping them at different spots around the landscape. Then, he sits back against a tree and sighs, twiddling his thumbs.

“I fucking hate XX-Beta-12.” Forrester mutters. “Hope it all holds up on your end, Shade. This better get your attention, Sarrus.”


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Terezi finds something odd out in the fields.  
> Two gods have a chat.  
> Dirk is worried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This will be slightly confusing.

Terezi Pyrope is wandering the grassy fields of Deltritus when she sees two new figures. The first is teal in colouration, and translucent, making them kind of resemble a sprite. The second is the man from before. Terezi ducks behind a rock.

“Something’s not right.” the figure says in a voice resembling hers. “We aren’t the only ones here, Forrester. I think you dragged something else in with us.”

“I’ve done no such thing.” Forrester argues. “And aren’t you supposed to be messing with things? I thought that that’s what you do.”

“Yes, but we’re not gonna do that.” a new voice says, and Terezi sees a third figure, this one a cobalt colour stride through the grass. “Not while there’s something else here.” Terezi’s heart skips a beat. The voice reminds her of Vriska. Kind of looks like her too.

“Why do you care so much about messing with a timeline?” the teal figure asks. “Why did you and Johnny Sarrus fall out anyway?”

“Because he’s fucking lost it is what. And it ain’t Sarrus.” Forrester says.

“Well who is it then?” the cobalt one asks.

Forrester sighs. “The composite.”

“Oh, great, what’s your plan with him?” the teal one asks him. “Can’t kill him.”

“Just need to borrow some weapons from an old friend.” Forrester says.

The teal one, who Terezi notes sounds quite like herself, laughs loudly. “Yes, go ahead and get those damn stones from the fucking Death Bringer himself.”

“We’re allies. Of a sort.” Forrester says. “Either way, the craziness your presence will cause in the future will probably mean that those bastards will arrive to deal with me any second now.”

On cue, a portal of sorts opens a few yards behind him, and he flinches for a brief moment, before sighing and turning.

“I’m not gonna bore you with the details.” the notably female Roxy in black armour that steps out says. “Get in here. You bringing these entities here causes some significant problems, enough to attract  _ his _ attention.” Forrester stands a little straighter, then steps through the portal. Roxy follows after him. The portal closes.

“Well, that was anticlimactic.” the teal figure says.

“Think we’re allowed to use our real names now?” the cobalt one says.

“Yeah, not like we have a choice.” the teal one says. “That makes you (Vriska), and that makes me (Terezi).”

“Hold on, why are our names in brackets?” (Vriska) asks.

“Because we’re not canon!” (Terezi) half shouts.

“Where should we go, then?” (Vriska) asks.

“We have to look for the rest of us.” (Terezi) responds.

“Right.” (Vriska) says, as if the answer was obvious.

The two translucent figures stride through the grass and off into the distance.

Terezi sits behind the rock, pondering what she just watched.

Dirk Strider pauses and frowns. “That’s odd.” he mutters. “Something’s wrong. Several things, in fact.” he turns to Rosebot. “Did you feel any of that?”

“I felt all of that.” Rosebot says. “Several new arrivals, a narrative shift, and a chapter shift.”

“The prologue was where Chapter 1 was supposed to be, and now the actual Chapter 1 is where Chapter 2 should be.” Dirk mutters. “This can’t be good.”

“There’s something wrong with Chapter 2.” Rose says. “The fake one, I mean.”

“It’s not going to be from anyone’s perspective, is it?” Dirk says, sighing. “I can’t tell who it really belongs to, which says something. What can you see? Who is it?”

“It’s John.” Rose says. Dirk straightens up.

“Rose.” he says firmly. “Go find Terezi right now.”

“Why?” Rose asks.

“Because this narrative is about to become a clusterfuck.” Dirk says. “I’ll explain later.”

Rose sets off out of their cave, and Dirk sits down and sighs.

“I do not like where this could be going.” he mutters to himself.

A breeze blows through the trees nearby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk's worried about something, but what?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John wakes up. Alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we see John's side of things.

Your name is John Egbert.

You have no idea where you are.

You are floating in a black void. All around you is pure darkness.

You can remember dying, and then you can’t remember what came after. It was like falling asleep for a long time. You had dreamt of darkness, and then you had woken to it.

There is a faint blue light shining in the distance. You fly towards it, propelling yourself through the endless silence in search of something, anything.

You fly for what feels like hours, until you come across it. A single bright blue light hovering in the middle of nowhere, unattached to anything. It is the same colour as your retcon powers, but you aren’t thinking about that at the moment.

“Hello?” you call, your voice echoing out into the abyss. There is no response.

“What should I do?” you call again, quieter this time. The void holds no answers.

“What should I do…” you mutter, nearly choking on your words. What are you doing here? What should you do? What is this place? What should you do? Is Terezi alright? What should you do? Are you alive, dead, in between?  _ What should you do? _

Your name is John Egbert. 23 years ago, you were given life, and four days ago you were given death. The starship  _ Theseus _ will spend three years in space and one year on Deltritus before any narrative circumstances revive you, thus giving you four years to yourself, alone in the endless dark. What will you do?

The first thing you decide to do is empty your rather large sylladex. There’s a single regular hammer, a bottle of shaving cream, a straight razor, and a PDA. It has everyone on your chumroll, but none of your messages are logged. It’s all just empty. You captchalogue all of your items once again, and begin to fly out into the darkness.

The Void of Irrelevance seems infinite. The blue light can be seen from wherever you are in the void, and it is your only way to get back to the center of the emptiness. You search for what feels like hours for an end to the darkness, but the truth is that months are flying by and they only feel like minutes to you. Maybe that’s good at first, but as every one of those ‘hours’ begin to feel longer, suddenly you start experiencing every second of every one of those months.

When two years on the outside finally pass, the horror of the situation sets in; you’re alone. Stuck in endless isolation with nothing but your thoughts and a retcon bubble-thing, whatever the fuck it is. You are sorry. You are depressed. You are lonely. And above all, you’re scared. You just want to see your friends again. To see Terezi again. To tell her you love her.

But you are alone now. Alone in the silence.

You pass the time by talking to the blue retcon bubble, even if it doesn’t talk back.

You do that for two and a half more years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor John. Lost and alone because this just happened to be that timeline.  
> Also, the chapter name is not a typo.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dirk ponders on the narrative.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk is **bold black** and not orange for some reason.

A ship descends from the sky. Specifically, the _Daedalus_ , which is not a Crockercorp military vessel like in the last timeline corrupted by outside influence, but is instead just another one of Jake English’s many spaceships. Kanaya is the first one outside the ship, followed by Dave. She’s busy watching a troll beat the crap out of a version of Dirk Strider with the Warhammer of Zillyhoo, not without a degree of confusion.

**Wait, no, hold on, what the fuck?**

Ignore that. It will apparently come into play something like nine stories down the line.

**Oh, so you can talk narratively, David. I didn’t realize you could do that.**

As the Dirk and the troll disappear, Kanaya contemplates what she just watched. She settles on saying “What the fuck.”

**Asking the real questions here. Speaking of, why am I bold black and not orange?**

“What did you just see?” Dave asks.

“It is unimportant.” Kanaya says. “I do believe that there are shenanigans at work.”

Dave nods. “Shenanigans.” he mutters.

“Hold on;” Dirk says. “Something’s wrong.” he pauses, trying to place his finger on it. Then it hits him. “Chapter 2 doesn’t exist. It goes Prologue, 1, 3, 4. What the fuck is even happening.”

“I’m happening is what’s happening.” a new voice purrs, and Dirk turns just in time to get his throat slashed by a sword. He gasps, presses his hands to his throat, then dies.

The cosmic clock rings Just.

(John) cracks his neck. His fingers crackle with electricity. “All that’s left to do is extend my grasp through this world. I’ll show the multiverse real Cancer.” he smiles. “I do have to kill the 12 people I killed last time though. But it’s gonna be so much more fun this time. I’ve already ascended, and they haven’t.” he cackles. “This is going to be fun. Better set the ambience.”

(John) tosses aside his real name and takes the one he prefers instead. Storm raises his arms and lets the sky fill with dark clouds. “Rain for days. Gonna smell minty though.” he wrinkles his nose, and pauses.

“Hmm. Hold on.” he looks around and sighs. “This chapter is _way_ too short to end here, ain’t it? Counting this sentence, it’s only 370 words so far.”

“And although I’m an actual god, unlike these flamboyant idiots, I can’t take control of the narrative, why is that?” he wonders aloud, then pauses. “External narrator, huh?” he nods. “Well then, might as well change scenes. Can still do that!” he snaps his fingers.

“So, you’re saying that we aren’t alone?” Davebot asks when he, Alt-Calliope, and Aradia set down on Deltritus’ surface, their feet making holes in the ground.

“There is an outside force.” Alt-Calliope says. “And I do believe that-” she flinches. “I cannot see him.” The look on her face is worrisome, to say the least.

“Can’t see who?” Davebot asks. “Dirk?”

“He is…” Alt-Calliope says. “Gone. He seems to have dropped off the face of the planet.” she winces. “He is dead.”

“Wait, what.” Davebot wonders aloud, more a deadpan statement of confusion than a question.

“Why’s he dead?” Aradia asks.

“I cannot tell.” Alt-Calliope says. “But I am quite certain that the new arrival has something to do with it.”

“What new arrival?” Davebot asks, and on cue it begins raining as the sky darkens.

“The same one doing this.” Alt-Calliope almost snarls.

When Kanaya enters the valley, she doesn’t know what she expects to see first. Dirk, whatever he was doing, the crashed ship, something along those lines. Instead what she sees is a version of John in the middle of a standoff with 12 semi-transparent sprite-looking versions of her and her troll friends, each the colour of their blood.

“It’s been a long time.” (Karkat) growls. “Since you, you know, **MURDERED US**.”

“Technically speaking, I didn’t murder you.” Storm says. “And Wolf killed some of you too.”

“Yes, well she’s not here, so we’re settling for you.” (Nepeta) snarls.

“You’re weaker. You don’t have your names.” Storm points out. “And you got captured too, by humans no less.”  
“You were captured too.” (Aradia) points out.

“So I was. But I was the one who escaped Beta-12, along with the other three.” Storm says. “And then I shattered myself before the universe could do me in. You want something done right…” he says, clicking his tongue before turning to the newcomers, “Do it yourself. Hello Kanaya.” he pauses before he adds “And crew.”

“Stand back, this isn’t your fight.” (Feferi) says to them immediately.

“This is our fight,” (Gamzee) starts.

“And ours alone.” (Tavros) finishes.

“So, you plan to kill all of us?” (Eridan) asks.

(Sollux) laughs. “He’s got no backup.” he says.

“You’re right.” Storm says. “I don’t. But I’m ascended. And none of you are.”

“Ugh, he annoys me.” (Kanaya) says.

“What the hell are we waiting for?” (Equius) asks.

“Let’s rip him to shreds.” (Terezi) says.

“This is gonna be fun.” (Vriska) says, licking her lips.

“Fun for me.” Storm says. “Not for you. But at the end of this, you’ll ascend too.”

Ghost, Fae, Bright, Bloodroot, Lion, Vampire, Mindless, Spider, Dark, Clown, Seraph, and Witch raise their weapons. Storm smiles, and his hands crackle with energy.

Elsewhere, a man with raven-black wings and a man with shining white wings step out of a portal. Thomas turns to Jack.

“What do you think?” he asks.

“I dunno, what do you think?” Jack asks.

“I think this is going to be a big problem.” Thomas says.

“You bet it is.” Jack says. “Storm and the twelve zodiac angels? Shit, that’s a problem.”

“Then let’s go deal with it.” Thomas says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dirk is dead.  
> Ignore the bit with the second Dirk and the indigo blood, but keep it in the back of your mind.  
> Storm is here, and he's better than everyone else.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Four gods talk the fuck out of each other and then beat the crap out of each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Idiots.

One by one, the shards of the broken gods begin to vanish. The twelve zodiac angels seem to shatter like glass rather than simply die. The rainbow of their remains slowly begins to vanish, and it’s only when they’re all gone that Storm seems to relax.

“That’s better,” he says. “More relevant. Now you’re ascended too.” Storm pauses, sniffs once, and then slowly turns to face the crew of the  _ Daedalus _ . “As for you…” he says. “The native Dave Strider, Jade Harley, Roxy Lalonde, Karkat Vantas, and Kanaya Maryam. I suppose you’ll be disappointed to know that Dirk’s dead. I killed him.”

“John… you killed Dirk?” Roxy asks. Something about Storm’s tone is convincing.

“Yes I killed Dirk and no I’m not John.” Storm says. “My name is Storm. I’m an alternate John who was once a god. And I mean a real god, not… whatever you people are.”

“Why did you kill Dirk?” Dave asks.

“Because he was in the way.” Storm says. “Now, normally I would say the same for you, but I’m on a bit of a schedule.” he pauses. “Alright, you are physically in the way. Move. Or else.”

“Or else what?” Kanaya challenges.

“God, you people.” Storm says. “So stubborn.” he waves his hand, and lightning strikes every single one of them. A few of the doses are tuned up so that Dave is temporarily killed and Alt-Calliope gets knocked right out of Jade. He shakes his head and walks right past them as they struggle to recover. The rain gets a little stronger, turning from raindrops spitting from the sky and becoming more like regular rain. A few lightning bolts strike the ground around him. Walking forwards, he cracks his neck and  _ hmm _ s to himself.

“Deltritus.” he says. “Expendable.” he snaps his fingers. The lightning strikes increase in intensity, severely damaging the planet’s geology and burning the trees. A portal opens next to him and a Jade with dark, stony eyes and dust flying around her steps out.

“Storm? What are you doing here?” she asks.

“What are  _ you _ doing here, Stone?” Storm asks. “This is  _ my _ timeline.”

“I already called first dibs.” Stone hisses.

“What the fuck are you two doing in my timeline.” a Rose-look alike with cold eyes and water dripping from her hands asks.

“Oh great, you’re here too Snow?” Storm says. “Great, is Blaze behind that rock?”

“I’m over here actually.” a Dave-looking person with fire burning around him says as he steps out of thin air and waves.

“Get out, all of you. I was here first.” Storm says.

“What, and that makes you better than us?” Snow challenges, raising her eyebrows.

“On a side note, you are completely fucking up the geology of this planet!” Stone hisses.

“It was screwed up to begin with, wasn’t it?” Storm responds. “Besides, I thought your thing was wolves, not earth. Why have you all taken elemental names anyway? What’s the point?”

“I suppose because we’re doubling down on the elemental motif?” Snow says.

“You’re stealing my idea.” Storm accuses.

“Stop it with the lightning, would you!?” Stone says, shoving Storm, and he grunts.

“Don’t shove me!” Storm responds, and headbutts her.

“Hey, could we just work together for once?” Snow asks. “I know we’ve had our differences in the past, but-” she’s cut off as Stone clocks Storm across the jaw. “Who am I kidding, I’m never going to negotiate peace between two opposing elements.”

“You bitch!” Storm hisses as he knees Stone in the stomach. “Get your own timeline!”

“Why don’t you just fuck off!” Stone says as she sweeps him off his feet and kicks him in the face. He stumbles to his feet and calls down lightning on top of Stone, who growls and punches him several times before grabbing and breaking his neck.

“Oh, shit.” Snow says.

Storm’s neck fixes itself and he stands to his feet, slowly turning to her. “That crossed the line.” he growls. Stone gets a moment to make an ‘oh-shit’ face before he punches her off into the distance, whereupon she crashes into a mountain and blows its top off from pure kinetic force alone. Storm flips her off.

“Storm! What the FUCK was that for?” Blaze harshly asks.

“You know what, fuck you too!” Storm says, zapping Blaze and Snow with lightning before flying off into the distance, shouting “My plans do not involve any of you!”

“Well, that was never going to end any differently, was it?” Snow wonders. “Blaze, think we should stick together?”

“No.” Blaze growls. “I anger more easily now. And seeing as we are of opposite elements, I do worry that one of us will inevitably provoke hostile reactions from the other. Thus, I believe it will be safer for us to part ways while we are still on neutral terms.” Without another word, Blaze turns and walks off, muttering to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For gods, they do a lot of squabbling. The squabbling progressively escalates into fighting throughout the future.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose goes to retrieve John from Terezi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like this chapter.

Electing not to think about the very strange thing that just happened, Dave, Jade, Roxy, Karkat, and Kanaya continue onwards to find the wrecked  _ Theseus _ and Dirk’s corpse in a cave. Rose is nowhere to be found, and neither is Terezi. However, there are two pairs of footprints leading away into the distance. Kanaya elects to follow them, thus inciting the others to follow her. They leave Dirk’s body behind, letting it rot.

Elsewhere, a few dozen yards ahead, Rosebot finds Terezi.

“Hello Terezi.” Rose says. “Dirk wants you. More specifically, he wants John.”

Terezi tenses. “And what makes you think I’ll hand him over?” she asks.

“I wasn’t asking.” Rose says. “I believe Dirk wants to help him.”

“You ‘believe’.” Terezi says. “How do you know he won’t hurt him?”

“Because he can’t hurt him anymore than he’s already hurt.” Rose says. “I doubt you’ve noticed, but he’s lost in his own mental Voidspace. He’s probably already lost it.”

“Voidspace, huh?” Terezi asks. “Do you really think I’ll buy that?”

“You’re prolonging his agony brought on by social isolation.” Rose says, and takes a step towards Terezi, who actually snarls and draws her caneswords. Rose sighs. “You don’t understand, do you? This is for the greater good.  _ His _ good.”

“I won’t let you touch him.” Terezi hisses at Rose, who takes another step forwards.

“Do you really think you can damage this metal body with those things?” Rose asks. “Just give him here Terezi, and we can do this the easy way.”

Terezi takes a step back, and Rose takes two steps forward. They get closer and closer, Terezi’s cane swords at the ready. She actually slashes across Rose’s metal hand as she reaches for the troll, leaving a scratch in the metal. Rose grabs the weapon from Terezi’s hand and throws it aside, clocking her in the face and pulling the wallet from her hand.

“I didn’t want to do it this way. But you’ve forced my hand. I-what are you doing?” Terezi is grabbing Rose’s leg in a rather futile effort to slow her down. “Please, that’s not going to work.”

“Rose!” a voice calls, and Rose pauses. She knows that voice.

“Kanaya?” she says as she turns her head to face behind her. Kanaya, Dave, Karkat, Roxy, and Jade are running towards her, although the latter four are lagging behind. “Kanaya, you do not understand.” she starts to say, still only half looking at her. “You can’t be here. You-”

She’s cut off as a single bolt of fire shoots forwards and strikes the wallet, setting it aflame. She actually flinches as she drops it. The wallet is turned into kindling and the tone of voice that Rose has when she speaks is one of panic. “No, no, no! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? The compliance to the-” she stops dead when she sees who the fire launcher was.

“ **Aw, come on now sis, don’t look at me like that.** ” Blaze, resembling Dave, says as he strides forwards, wreathed in flame. He’s smiling. The grass around him is set alight.

Terezi stands up. “What the-” is all she gets out before he thrusts his fist forwards, hits her in the sternum, and knocks her backwards with surprising speed. She slams into Rosebot, who in turn gets knocked backwards and crashes into Kanaya. They all go down in a tangle of limbs for a moment, and then all roll in three separate directions. Dave stops dead in his tracks, along with Roxy, Karkat, and Jade.

“ **I got your tongue, eh boy** ?” Blaze asks, and charges another fireball, this one much larger. More like the size of a truck then a hand. The wallet is still burning on the ground, and Terezi begins to crawl for it, barely caring about the flaming ball of death that’s about to burn them all to a crisp. Dave backs up and stands in front of Karkat, Kanaya struggles to her feet, Roxy stares awestruck, Jade prepares to try and use her powers to hold back the torrent, and Rosebot stands snarling. Terezi keeps crawling for the wallet, which is now giving off a strange smell like burning rubber as it is engulfed in flames. The contents are burning now, John is burning. Everyone is about to be turned into kindling.

_ Stab _

Blaze stops, coughs, and the fireball dies in his hand, turning into smoke. The flame engulfing the wallet also vanishes as well. He looks down and sees a sword blade through his chest. The owner pulls it out and shoves him aside.

“Surprise.” Jack says. “I got Stone and Snow, they won’t be getting back up for a while.”

Blaze snarls, and prepares more fire. Jack raises his hand and there’s a sonic boom sound as Blaze is sent flying backwards, crashing through a forest and shredding the trees.

“Oops.” Jack says. “Didn’t mean to hurt all those trees.” he flaps his black wings.

“Does it really matter Jack? This whole place is going to go up anyway.” white-winged Thomas as he descends from the sky, seemingly from nowhere.

“Did you get Storm, Thomas?” Jack asks.

“Ish.” Thomas says. “He’s still awake. The others… we’ve got a few hours.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Karkat asks.

“Your universe is under attack.” Jack says.

“We’re here to help before the whole place gets shredded like it's inside a cheese grater washing machine.” Thomas says.

“I can’t believe that you got to trade your low courage for the inability to make good metaphors.” Jack says. “I had to trade some of my ability to feel pain for knowledge.”

“How is that bad?” Thomas asks.

“You have no idea how many times I have cut my hands open and only realized when I’ve lost a pint, do you?” Jack asks, and Thomas gets a semi-horrified look.

“We lost Dirk.” Rosebot says. “That leaves this universe without a powerful enough narrator.”

“Incorrect.” Thomas says. “There is another.”

“Several, actually.” Jack says. “There’s you, there’s Forrester, the two of us, and Alt-Calliope.”

“Who the fuck is Forrester?” Karkat asks.

“We’ll see.” Thomas says. “Or rather you’ll see, we already know.”

“If I could interrupt you two,” Rosebot says. “I think something’s taking over my bo-”

Rosebot pauses, and then her red eyes go dark and her robot body slumps to the ground. “Rose!” Kanaya shouts, and instinctively runs over.

“No, no, no, no, don’t touch her!” Jack says, going over to her. Kanaya actually listens for reasons she's not sure about. Thomas kneels on the other side of her.

“The Aspects must have taken her body, judging by that signature.” Jack says.

“So where did her mind go?” Thomas asks. A look of realization dawns a moment after.

“Oh. This is bad.” Jack says. “This is very bad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There goes Rose.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Aspects have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, the glitch text did carry over! You'll see what I mean.

**20 Minutes Earlier**

Blood stands to his feet. “What the…” he says. “What happened to my… name?”

“Hey Blood, what the fuck is going on?” Time says. “Why can’t I say your name.”

“Because we’ve been shattered into aspects.” Mind says as she walks over.

“Aspects of what? Of who?” Light asks.

“Of our counterparts in just about every other universe?” Space suggests, clearly uncertain.

“Oh great, then. Are we stuck like this?” Rage asks, aggravation in his voice.

“He said he wanted to make us ascend just like him.” Hope mutters.

“Is no one else realizing that this is… actually an upgrade?” Life asks.

Everyone pauses and starts assessing their power levels. “Holy shit, you’re right.” Heart says.

“Hey, Doom?” Time asks as she stares into the distance. “I think you were wrong about him having no backup.”

“God-ammit.” Doom says.

One by one, they clamber onto the hill that Time is on and stare into the distance. Snow is off, starting up a blizzard of some kind.

“Well that’s just great, ain’t it?” Breath says. “Do we have a plan?”

“We can’t take on two.” Void says. “And I feel like there are more than two.”

“And another problem;” Blood says. “I think we still shatter easily.”

“We’re still weak then.” Space says. “We are only semi-stronger.”

“Yes.” Mind says. “But. I have an idea.”

“What?” Light asks. “How could we possibly stand up to each of them?”

“We could merge.” Mind suggests. There’s a long pause.

“And how exactly would we do that?” Blood asks.

“It’s simple, innit? Put our hands together and choose to merge?” Mind asks.

Surprisingly, that’s exactly what they do.

The result, however, is not pretty.

The twelve colours that each of them have overlap each other at every turn. They have indeed succeeded at merging, but they look… off. It’s like a series of glitching textures on a broken video game, all echoing over each other, vying for control as the dominant colour. Their brains aren’t liking the connecting either.

“Ack, no what the fuck!?” They all say at once, voices still echoing over one another. “This was a bad idea.” They add.

“We’ve got to…” they pause, flickering a little. “Get a body, stabilize.”

“Stabilize?” they ask themselves. “How the fuck is getting a body gonna do that? That was a  _ terrible _ idea!”

“Shut up, all of you!” they shout angrily. “Quit arguing and work together!”

“Now, we have to get into a body, it should help stabilize us as long as we incubate.” they say.

“What if it doesn’t work?” they ask themselves.

“Well then, we’re going to have to de-merge somehow and try again.” they say.

“But we don’t know how.” they whisper.

“We’ll deal with that later.” they say. “There’s a few options, but we’re going to go for the less defended one.”

“Which one is that?” they ask themselves.

“Rose.” they say, and take off into the sky, flying towards the wreck of the  _ Theseus _ .

They set down, still glitching insanely.

“T̶h̴i̴s̴ ̷i̴s̸ ̵i̷t̷.” they say. “W̵a̸i̵t̵ ̶a̶ ̸m̴i̴n̵u̶t̸e̶. O̴u̶r̶ ̴v̶o̴i̶c̵e̴ ̸i̷s̷… g̵l̵i̸t̵c̶h̷y̶.”

“W̷e̸ ̶d̷o̶n̸'̵t̶ ̶h̸a̶v̶e̴ ̴l̵o̴n̸g̸ ̵u̶n̴t̸i̵l̵ ̶w̵e̶ ̵f̵r̵a̴c̴t̴u̷r̶e̵ ̸a̷g̸a̶i̴n̶.” they say, and step into the crashed ship. They wander past the destruction and chaos in each room caused by the rough landing. They keep walking until they find Rose’s body in its pod.

“T̷h̷e̵r̸e̵ ̶s̴h̵e̷ ̵i̴s̷.” they say.

“O̸u̵r̶ ̸s̴a̷l̸v̷a̸t̵i̸o̴n̷.” they comment.

“L̷e̶t̵'̸s̶ ̶d̵o̶ ̷t̸h̵i̶s̴.” they say, and press a few buttons and controls on the keypad. The pod slides open, and they can hear Rose breathing.

“N̶͜͝ö̷̘́ť̵̹h̵̗͛i̸̛̭n̵̲͆g̸͚̍ ̷̾ͅt̴̨̒o̶̠͊ ̴̰̄i̴̭̾t̴̜́.” they say, degrading further. They waver on the threshold for a moment before they step into Rose’s body, thrusting her mind out into Voidspace.

“Ah.” they say as they get used to using Rose’s body. “That’s nice.”

“What do you think we should call ourselves?” they ask.

“Aspect?” they suggest after a long time.

“Yes.” they say. “That is a good name.”

Aspect smiles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aspect. Sweet. They will go by They/Them pronouns, but because they still refer to themselves as 'We' for some reason.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang chats about possession. Sort of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go.

**Now**

“Forrester, I know you’re out there.” Jack says as he stands and Thomas pokes and prods Rosebot with magic. “Why don’t you come out?”

“Oh bollocks, no hiding from you people.” Forrester says as he seemingly materializes from thin air. “I showed back up as soon as my past self got kicked out.”

“I do hope you’ve understood more now.” Jack says.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Forrester says. “I’m still technically on the run in Endstuck.”

“Not out here though.” Jack says.

“Nope.” Forrester says. “But yeah, I… killed him. That’s probably going to cause problems for the rest of you, isn’t it?” something about his tone suggests he’s hiding something.

“Ah well.” Jack says. “We’ve still got Sigma, Sarrus, and Umbra.”

“The three Musketeers, huh?” Forrester asks.

“If you want to call them that.” Jack says.

“No, they literally call themselves the three Musketeers.” Forrester says.

“Still nerds at heart then.” Jack says.

“Yeah, or they just got a sense of humour.” Forrester mutters.

“Why’d you even do it?” Jack asks. “What was the train of thought there?”

“Shade and I figured he was becoming too bad for his own good.” Forrester cautiously says. “So we were going to make disruptions, small ones. Nothing too bad. I can keep the gods in check. Unfortunately, Storm and his pals decided to show up.”

“They aren’t exactly pals anymore.” Jack interjects. “But do continue.”

“At first we just wanted to try and get close to him, the real him, fix him somehow.” Forrester says. “But when I saw what he had become… my fears were justified. He was apathetic about the deaths of others. So I tried to kill him.”

“Did it work?” Jack asks.

“I suppose so.” Forrester says.

“Alright.” Thomas says, standing. “We can’t get Rose back unless we kick Aspect out of her body. If we try, we could hurt her. Badly.”

“Can you get a proper lock on her?” Jack asks.

“No, but the narrative might be able to.” Thomas says.

* * *

Rose opens her eyes. She’s got a human looking body, and is floating in a dark void. There’s a single blue light in the distance. She flies towards it, seeing as it is the only landmark in this darkness. She knows exactly where she is. The Voidspace. And she knows who else is down here with her. There’s someone hovering next to the blue light.

“Rose?” John asks, almost desperately.

“Hello John.” Rose says. “I guess I’m stuck down here with you.”

* * *

Jack, Thomas, and Forrester lead Kanaya, Karkat, Dave, Roxy, Jade, and Terezi towards the wreck of  _ Theseus _ . Rosebot is contained in an energy bubble generated by Forrester as he drags the powered off robot along through the air like a balloon. The storm has gotten worse, Kanaya notes. The lightning strikes are becoming more frequent. They slowly creep into the damaged ship and towards the room containing Rose’s pod. They find it empty, and they find Rose hunched over in the corner of the room, facing away from the door. When she turns her head, her eyes are flickering between various colours.

“We’re almost finished.” Rose says, or rather Aspect says. “Just let us hold on to her for a moment longer.”

“Actually, you should be finished reconstructing by now.” Thomas says. “Get out.”

“No.” Aspect says. “We haven’t had a body in so long. Do you really think we’re going to let you-” Aspect is cut off as Jack mutters something, raises his hand, and telekinetically pulls a rainbow coloured ball of energy from Rose’s chest as Rose’s body to the floor. Jack catches the ball and then flicks it to the ground, where it forms back into one rainbow coloured entity, who sputters and breathes heavily. Thomas winces.

“Oh dear.” Thomas says, and a moment later the whole ship shakes.

“What the fuck was that?” Karkat asks.

“That was an earthquake brought on by intense lightning.” Jack says. “And if it’s getting that bad, we should probably scoot.” another quake follows. “Case in point.”

“Oh, and we need to grab the second Dave, Jade, and Aradia.” Thomas says.

“Actually, they’ve already taken the hint, can’t you feel it?” Forrester asks. “They’re bunking for Earth C, and we should too, fast.” Forrester twirls his finger and an orange circle appears in the air, leading to a forest. Its edges spark. “Step through the portal.” he says. “This place is going to go up in smoke.”

“Why the hell should we trust you?” Karkat asks.

“Because.” Forrester says. “I don’t know. I want to help.”

“That’s kind of our bag.” Jack says.

“Well I stole it.” Forrester says. “Now are we getting out of here or what?” Aspect is the first one into the portal. “See? He gets it.” he pauses. “They? It?”

“They.” Thomas says. “I think they refer to themselves as we, so it’s they.”

Terezi goes through the portal next, and the place shakes again. “There she goes.” Jack says.

Kanaya follows her. Jade goes after them. The place shakes again. “Well, I’m not staying here.” Roxy says before she steps through the portal, leaving Dave and Karkat. Dave takes Karkat’s hand and the troll hesitates before he goes through, electing to stay with his boyfriend. The place shakes again as the sound of thunder and lightning seems to be all that can be heard. Forrester opens his mouth to say something but notes that it most likely wouldn’t be heard anyway, so he just goes through the portal. Thomas goes first, and Jack is stepping through the portal when the ship gets struck by a massive lightning bolt and explodes, bathing Jack in flame even as the portal closes.

He brushes the soot off of his shoulders and then mutters “Ow.”

“You alright, Jack?” Thomas asks.

“Yeah, just singed me.” Jack says. “Demonic side helps.”

“Guys…” Forrester says as they exit the clutch of woods and find everyone else staring up at the sky. “I think we have a problem.”

“Oh, great.” Jack says.

“They’re already here.” Thomas mutters.

The coastal city of NuSeattle is down the hill and across the field from the small forest of trees, and it's engulfed in a storm. A four sided storm that seems to split between the elements of fire, water, earth, and air. In each respective quadrant, one of the four elemental gods is hovering.

Earth C is under attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, now John has someone to talk to.  
> Earth C is under attack!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some people chat while a city burns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dialogue.

“So, like, now that Dirk’s dead, what exactly do we do?” Davebot asks as he and Alt-Calliope wearing Jade’s body sit in the grass and watch NuSeattle burn. “Because I know that Aradia wanted to go and get in the thick of things, but…”

“Frankly I am uncertain.” Alt-Calliope says. “I would suggest stopping the four new threats to this universe but I am aware that technically speaking my powers are useless against true gods.”

“True gods, huh.” Davebot says. “So they’re vain.”

“Yes.” Alt-Calliope says. “But I most firmly believe that they are indeed actual gods.”

“Why do you believe that?” Davebot asks.

“A feeling.” Alt-Calliope says.

“Wow, that’s… a pretty small thing to base it all on.” Davebot says. “No other reason?”

“The fact that they possess powers beyond what God Tier could grant you including but not limited to the manipulation of the weather of an entire planet.” Alt-Calliope says.

“Oh yeah.” Davebot says. “I guess that is a fairly good reason.” there’s a pause. “But you’re uncertain about what we should actually do.”

“I suppose we could retire on this Earth C and open a flower shop.” Alt-Calliope says.

Davebot makes a rattling sound that resembles mechanized laughter. “Cliche.” he says.

“Indeed, that is why I sarcastically suggested it.” Alt-Calliope says.

“I think the two of us are rubbing off on you.” Davebot says.

“Most definitely.” Alt-Calliope says.

“I seriously can’t believe that our world is technically on the verge of coming to an end and we’re just supposed to sit here and watch.” Jade says as they stare at the city.

“Relax, they’re going to fix it.” Dave says.

“Why am I the only one who isn’t cool with this?” Jade asks.

“Jade, if it’s any consolation, I think this is bullshit too.” Karkat says.

“I’m rather uncomfortable about it too, to be honest.” Roxy says. “Can’t believe we’re just meant to sit here and-”

Roxy is cut off as a person crashes into the ground a few dozen feet from the group. They stand up and crack their neck. It’s Blaze, who groans and sighs.

“No, you know what, fuck this.” the version of Dave says, and disappears in a burst of flame.

“Well, there he goes.” Roxy says. “Three to go, I think.”

“Three to go.” Terezi mutters. “Four elements.”

“That doesn’t really make any sense, given the fact that there are more than four elements.” Kanaya says next to her.

“Apparently causality has a sense of humour.” Dave says.

“I can’t believe we’re just sitting here.” Karkat says.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I have a feeling this will all be over soon.” Terezi says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I had way too much fun with the whole Alt-Calliope and Davebot bit.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aspect goes for a walk through NuSeattle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Three gods left.

Aspect wanders through the city, people screaming and running all around them. They ignore the chaos, searching instead for the three remaining gods, Storm, Snow, and Stone, who all have S names for some reason. The city of NuSeattle is getting rather shredded, and there’s less of an evacuation going on and more of a panicked attempt at escape on everyone’s part. Aspect just keeps wandering as buildings crumble around them, lightning striking the asphalt streets and hail occasionally falls from the sky and nails a fleeing civilian in the skull.

“I’m surprised you didn’t let the gods of Earth C help civilians escape.” Aspect says when they sense Jack and Thomas behind them. “Begs the question about your morality.”

“UMF unfortunately trades ethics for timeline compliance.” Thomas says. “Unfortunately.”

“Why are you following us anyway?” Aspect asks.

“Well, we figured that you’d take Storm.” Jack says. “I’m taking Stone, Jack is dealing with Snow. Truce?”

Aspect still hasn’t turned around. “Truce.” they finally say.

“Good. We’ll go after our targets and you go after yours.” Jack says. He and Thomas take flight into the sky, heading separate directions. Aspect continues on, already sensing where Storm is.

A building collapses next to Aspect, but they barely flinch, walking slowly towards their destination. It’s not long, however, before they find Storm flying in the air, busy having fun striking fleeing civilians with lightning.

“Hey, Storm!” Aspect shouts, and Storm turns. Storm opens his mouth and then pauses.

“Why are you merged?” Storm hesitantly asks.

“Well, no matter how much power we had, we knew we couldn’t beat you split apart, so we melded our powers as well as our bodies.” Aspect says. “If we even had anything resembling bodies in the first place.”

“We technically did.” Storm says. “Also, why are you calling yourself ‘we’ and not ‘I’? Do you not know how to properly merge?”

“Is there any other way?” Aspect asks.

“Maybe there are too many of you. That’s not how you’re supposed to do it.” Storm says. “You’re supposed to actually merge your consciousness’, not have one person at the helm.”

“Oh, god, would you just shut up!” Aspect snarls, and they shoot forwards and slam Storm backwards into a building, blowing it apart. He proceeds to start absolutely wailing on Storm with an unmatched fury. Storm actually seems… rather surprised at Aspect’s boosted power. Especially given that he’s actually getting his ass kicked.

“Jeez, you’re powerful.” Storm comments as they stare each other down amidst the pouring rain. Aspect growls, and Storm mock-growls back. “Guess merging did make you stronger.”

Aspect responds by punching him in the face and sending him crashing through several buildings and flying out of the city. He flies after him and they proceed to demolish an unfortunate forest in their conflict. Around the same time, Snow decides to leave rather than continue attacking this place while two other gods are already here.

Two down, two to go. Defeated by pure annoyance alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two down, two to go.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two elemental gods have a chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last time these two will ever like each other.

Storm blasts Aspect with lightning about five times in a row and punches the other entity backwards into a building, which is ripped apart from pure force. He pauses, waiting for Aspect to come back around and attack him. Aspect does indeed come back around, but Storm dodges them and knocks them into a tornado, trapping them and sending them spinning away. He redirects his attention from the melded entity and turns to see Stone approaching him, looking rather worse for wear.

“And what are you doing here?” Storm asks.

“Avoiding the two that got away.” Stone says.

“Ah, Jack and Thomas. The interlopers.” Storm says.

“We probably should work together.” Stone says. “It’s three against two.”

“Three against three.” Storm says.

“Three against  _ two _ .” Stone corrects. “Snow left just like Blaze did.”

“Cowards.” Storm mutters. “So now we have to contend with Planet of Hats and the Nirvana Twins.” Stone tips her head to the side.

“Planet of Hats?” she asks.

“You know, Aspect.” Storm says.

“I know you mean Aspect, but why Planet of Hats?” Stone asks. Storm shrugs.

“Because there are several of them, and… their unifying trait… is that…” Storm pauses. “They all hate me.”

“Wow.” Stone says. “Real compelling, mister.”

“I’d like to see you come up with a better name.” Storm says.

“Hydra?” Stone suggests, and then shakes her head. “No.”

“You can’t think of anything better, can you?” Storm asks, and then laughs. “Ha, I knew it.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Stone says. “Also, behind you.”

Storm turns and gets knocked backwards as Aspect crashes into him, being sent flying through the very building he knocked Aspect into just a minute or two ago. It collapses and gets absolutely torn to shreds as all sorts of freak weather events converge on it. Storm turns and sees Thomas and Jack flying towards her. She sighs.

“You know what?” she says aloud. “I do not have time for this shit. I’m going someplace else.” she snaps her fingers and disappears, leaving a cloud of dusty air in her wake.

“Oh. That was easy.” Thomas says. “We didn’t even have to keep fighting her.”

“Guess they’re getting annoyed.” Jack says, shrugging. “Come on. Let’s go help our enemy’s enemy.” the two of them fly off towards the ruined crater where Aspect and Storm are currently fighting, tearing the land and the city apart around them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Arguing. They bicker a lot.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John and Rose chat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to the Voidspace!

“I still can’t believe that you’ve been down here for over  _ five years _ .” Rose says.

“Yeah, well, it’s very nice to have someone to talk to besides Blue over here.” John says.

“Blue?” Rose asks. “Who’s Blue?”

“Oh, you know, this thing.” John says, pointing to the retcon bubble just sitting there. “It made sense to call it Blue, given the colour.”

“Right.” Rose says. “So… what do you do down here? Or rather, what have you done for the past three or so years?”

“Well, I’ve…” John says, pausing, trying to consider what he should say. “Been thinking. I guess. About… just about everything.”

“What in particular?” Rose asks.

“I…” John trails off. “Relevance, the narrative, my place in it, what this place is… speaking of, I’ve been doing a lot of exploration of this place, and there isn’t anything else.”

“What, so it’s just us and this thing?” Rose asks.

“Us and  _ Blue _ .” John corrects.

“Us and Blue, yes. Is it just the three of us?” Rose asks.

“Seems that way.” John says, shrugging.

There’s a long pause.

“John.” Rose says.

“Rose?” John says. “What?”

“I can see your sylladex.” Rose says. John instinctively tenses and flies back from her.

“Please, no.” John mutters.

“Why is your razor covered in dried blood?” Rose asks.

_ No _

“Stop.” John says more audibly. “Stop!” he shouts as he curls up.

“I’m sorry.” Rose says immediately after. “I didn’t want to

**NO**

“Shut up!” John shouts, his voice echoing through the void. “I don’t want to talk about it!”

_ Don’t make me talk about it don’t make me talk about it don’t make me talk about it _

_ I don’t want to go back down there. _

**I DON’T WANT TO GO BACK DOWN INTO THE DARK.**

**…**

_ … _

…

“I was scared.” John says. “I was scared and alone.” Rose doesn’t say a word as he lies curled up in a ball, floating in the void. “And I was sad.” John says. “I thought to myself ‘I’m probably never going to see her face again.’ And so far, that statement has been true.” Rose tries to ignore the tears in her eyes. “Maybe I will see her again. But at the time, I didn’t think so. So I used it for something other than shaving.”

John doesn’t say another word after that, nor does Rose.

In fact, they barely talk for the next four months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor John. Scared and alone for five years.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time jump.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time jump!

Storm ended up running in the end.

With three gods on his tail and a desire to create some more chaos in this world, he hightailed it across the New United States and left a trail of natural disasters, death, destruction, and storms of all shapes and sizes. In the end, he probably hit every single one of the 48 states, not counting NuHawaii or Neo-Alaska.

As for everyone else, they went their own ways. What else were they to do? The best they could do was help evacuate civilians, but even still, every time they got close to Storm he would focus all of his attacks on them. And he would always know when they were there. They eventually stopped after an incident in Chicago nearly killed Jade and flattened the entire city into naught but rubble, arguably specifically because of her intervention.

John Egbert and Rose Lalonde remained in the Voidspace even four months after the destruction of NuSeattle.

Dave Strider and Karkat Vantas got married, so there was some good to be had.

Jade Harley never fully left Storm alone, always trying to go after him when he was out in the open and away from civilization. Her brother was gone and Dirk was dead, leaving her with no one to put the blame on but Storm. He may look like John, but she knows he isn’t.

Jane Crocker ended up being forced to double down on certain fascist policies, more to keep people safe as opposed to limiting troll rights, although that did end up becoming a side effect.

Roxy Lalonde spent more time with Calliope, who switched from worrying about Dirk to worrying about total universal annihilation at the hands of one hyped up pissed off weather god.

Jake English hung out with Jane for a while but ended up wandering around the world, and then switched to helping people after Storm had passed through their cities or towns.

Davebot and Alternate Calliope periodically attempted to help take on Storm, but mostly helped with relief efforts. Just like she had joked four months ago, Alt-Calliope did actually open a flower shop in NuWashington, which Storm has strangely always avoided for seemingly no reason, although he has apparently claimed to have declared it ‘too important’.

Kanaya Maryam stayed by Rose’s comatose body for all four months as she progressively showed more and more signs of life. But even still, her hope remained static.

Terezi Pyrope is in a similar situation with John’s body. Her only connection with this world in general, lying in a bed in a medical ward 24/7, apparently semi-alive for some reason.

Nobody knows what happened to Aradia Megido. Word is she talked to Storm a few times, but a little while after she went back to NuSeattle, she disappeared. Some people said that she might have gone to space, but in truth nobody knows what happened to her.

It has been four months since the destruction of NuSeattle. It has been five and a half years since the death of John Egbert. Soon, this madness will end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time jump.  
> To be honest, this was a total curveball in my writing when I just suddenly wrote that four months passed.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang finally catches Storm and Aspect apologizes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The spoons are present in this chapter.

Aspect, Jack, and Thomas finally catch up to Storm when he’s sitting on a rock in the Alabama countryside, playing the spoons. He looks tired, bored, or something in between. “Oh, good, you finally showed up.” he says. “I’ve been playing the spoons for four hours.”

“Enough games. Let’s finish this.” Aspect says.

“Actually, I’m done with this.” Storm says. “Because  _ fucking _ Forrester has been jamming me for the last four months. I should be able to end this place in a heartbeat, move on to Universe “Four”, but…” he pauses. “Forrester is stronger than me as of this moment. So, I just decided to fuck things up for a while and then skip town.”

“You’re a fucking murderer.” Aspect snarls.

“And you aren’t?” Storm asks. That gives them pause. Storm smirks. “You’ve all done the same bad things as I, haven’t you? Honestly.”

Aspect snarls, and Storm simply waves and disappears. “Get back here!” they shout. “Get back here and face us, you fucking coward!”

Silence.

“You fu… you…” Aspect trails off. “I’m sorry.” they mutter. “I’M SORRY!!!” they scream, collapsing to their knees. “I’m sorry I hurt all of you. I’m sorry Jack, I’m sorry Thomas.” they curl into a ball. “I was angry.” they sob out. “We were angry. So we took it out on you. I’m sorry.”

“Woah. Did you just…” Thomas trails off.

“Properly merge?” Jack finishes for him.

“I was angry at what humanity had done before, so I took it out on you.” Aspect quietly says. “For no reason. We were angry, and we’re sorry. But we can’t go back.” a long pause. “But I can fix it.” Aspect says in a darker voice.

“As entertaining as that would be…” Jack says, waving his hand and suddenly binding Aspect in red chains, causing them to yell. “We’ve still got orders to take you in.”

“Jack! What the hell are you doing?” Thomas asks as Aspect struggles.

“Thomas, we have to.” Jack says.

“But it’s sorry.” Thomas says. “I can see into its head. It’s sorry.”

“I know Thomas.” Jack says. “I know it is. But orders come first.”

Aspect screams as it is sucked down into a portal and vanishes with a scream.

Silence.

“I didn’t like having to do that.” Jack says.

“Well I didn’t like having to watch that.” Thomas says. “You know what Jack? Fuck this.” he turns and opens his own portal. “I need time to think. Reevaluate you.”

Jack sighs as Thomas disappears. Shortly afterwards, Forrester flies down from the sky. “Is it finished?” Forrester asks.

“Yes it is.” Jack says. “What will you do now?”

“Something hacked my friend.” Forrester says. “Triggered the Universe “Five” Incident.”

“What?” Jack asks in slight horror. “So he caused that. How do you know that he’s been hacked? Huh?”

“Because he let me see his coding and I know what’s wrong with him.” Forrester says.

“He let you see his coding.” Jack says. “Is that a euphemism?”

“No it’s not, actually.” Forrester says. “He literally let me into his head, let me see his inner workings, how all the code meshed together.”

“He must really trust you.” Jack says.

“Yeah, we’re like brothers.” Forrester says. “Maybe even more than his siblings.”

“Moirails then?” Jack asks.

“Yes, I suppose.” Forrester says. “Something like that.”

“Well, I’ve still got one last thing to do.” Jack says.

“And what would that be?” Forrester asks.

“Rose Lalonde has been dead for four months, and John Egbert has been dead for five years.” Jack says. “Their matesprits are waiting. I’m going to jumpstart the resurrection process.”

“You do that.” Forrester says as Jack flies off. “And meanwhile I’ve gotta check out our neighboring timeline.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why Storm is playing the spoons. He just is. That's all that matters.  
> Good thing the gods of XX-Beta-12 admitted that they were assholes.  
> Thomas isn't too happy with Jack, by the way.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John gets back to life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end.

“I’m sorry, John.” Rose says. “It was a sensitive topic, I shouldn’t have pushed.”

“It’s over now.” John says. “I was in a dark place at the time, but I’ve gotten better.”

“I think we’re going home, by the way.” Rose says.

“What?” John asks, looking around. The darkness is brightening, slowly. “I think you might be right.” John says. Soon, the black has turned to white and then that’s encompassing both of them and light is everywhere and-

…

…

…

John opens his eyes.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Jack says as he stares down at the other man.

“What the-who are you?” John asks.

“Someone who brought you back.” Jack says. “That’s all that matters. Oh, and someone’s been wanting to see you.”

“Some-” John gets cut off into an _oof_ noise as Terezi wraps him in a hug.

“I’ve already got Rose too, so you’ll be fine.” Jack says.

“What did I miss, how long was I gone?” John says.

“Five years.” Terezi says.

“ _What?_ ” John asks.

“You’ll get used to it.” Jack says. “I will leave you to pick up where you left off.”

“So,” John says after Jack leaves the room, leaving him and Terezi alone, “What did I miss?”

Elsewhere, Forrester stares at the fractures throughout the timeline nicknamed Act I: Ascendance and frowns. “Oh Shade, what has he made you do…?” he mutters, then sighs. “Only one way to find out. Hold on Shade. I’m coming after you.” he disappears in a flash of light.

~~The Inevitable End of All But Me~~

~~XX-Beta-12~~

~~The Solomon Project~~

~~Act I: Ascendance~~

~~Act II: Defyers~~

Act III: Protectors

Act IV: Controllers

Intermission: Zero Day

Act V Act I: Shade

Act V Act II: Shatter

> Fiction to Reality

Golf-213

Dimensional Drabbles

Endstück

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go, Forrester, go! We barely know who you are, but we'll see.

**Author's Note:**

> Forrester. Who's he? How does he know Shade? Where's this going?  
> Oh, and once again, who the fuck is Sarrus?


End file.
